From Overlooked to Center Stage: How Santa Clara Club Tennis Is Making Its Mark
Photo provided by Santa Clara Club Tennis. Santa Clara Club Tennis poses by the USTA tournament sign.
The warm night air was still as Santa Clara University’s club tennis doubles team trailed by 10 games to the University of Nevada, Reno. All hope seemed lost, and then the impossible happened—Santa Clara rallied all the way back to complete the largest comeback in USTA NorCal sectional history. The club tennis team brings this spirit to the table every time they step onto the court.
When the team hit the courts just a few years ago, they weren’t even an official club sport. Practices were split between competitive and non-competitive players, tournament travel was limited and paid out of pocket, and tryouts weren’t even part of the picture. But now, thanks to years of persistence, a growing community and increased support from the University, the team has emerged as a competitive club sport on campus.
“We weren’t even sanctioned when I started as a freshman,” said club member Sapna Wolf ’26. “It was kind of this underground thing where we practiced when we could, juggled limited resources, and just made it work. But now? We’ve gone to Nationals.”
After years of pushing for recognition, Santa Clara Club Tennis finally became an official club sport last year. The shift unlocked funding, increased tournament access, and made Club Tennis the largest club sports team on campus with over 100 members. The club now holds tryouts, travels frequently to high-stakes tournaments and consistently competes against top teams like the University of California, Davis; University of California, Berkeley; and Stanford University.
“I walked by Malley the other day where they keep a numbers tally,” said club member Clayton Baldwin ’25. “I think we have maybe six times the number of people as the next biggest club sports team, which is crazy.”
Most recently, the team traveled to the University of California, Santa Barbara and UC Davis for tournaments. They won the Cow Town Showdown tournament at Davis while defeating UC Davis’s highly-ranked team. This is the second consecutive year Club Tennis has captured the cowbells in Davis.
“It feels like we’re finally getting the recognition we’ve worked so hard for,” said Baldwin. “People used to not even know we had a club tennis team—now we’re winning tournaments and making a name for Santa Clara Club Tennis.”